Is ROAMpay Behind Your Processor’s mPOS?

So you’ve signed up with a credit card processor that offers an mPOS app. Great! Time to download the app and get started. So you head over to the app store of your choosing and search by name. You find the app and are getting ready to download it to your phone or tablet. But wait! Your mPOS app isn’t published by your processor — it’s published by ROAM Data. Dig a little deeper and you’ll see that ROAM Data doesn’t just publish your mPOS app. It publishes ROAMpay and several other apps besides.

So… if your credit card processor didn’t make the app, then who did?

ROAM data is the name Ingenico produces its ROAMpay app under. Yes, you read that right. Ingenico. You know, the company that makes a bunch of credit card processing hardware. Ingenico licenses the ROAMpay app to other companies, tweaks the appearance slightly to fit the licensee’s branding, and releases it to the public.

This is actually a fairly common practice in the tech field. It’s called “white label” — and it’s used a lot in the mPOS field as well as loyalty/mobile payments, and even event management, just to name a few areas. While it means the company won’t get a unique mobile app, it means they can launch one fairly quickly, without having to go through an intensive development and review process.

What the Heck is ROAMpay, Anyway?

Like we said, ROAMpay is the app developed by Ingenico. At the time of writing, the most recent iteration is ROAMpay X5. It’s available on Google Play and iTunes.

However, as a merchant, you can’t go sign up for a ROAMpay account, download the app and start processing. Ingenico doesn’t offer its own payment processing service. Instead, companies like Flagship use the main app instead of having it skinned to fit their own branding. And obviously other companies instead choose to modify the aesthetics and change the name and launch it as their own. It’s not even just payment processors that are licensing the app — Ingenico’s case studies note that some businesses have licensed the app as a way for them to create branded payment platforms for their own teams.

However, fundamentally you get the same experience — the same feature set, the same overall user design, and the same capabilities. Some of the companies using ROAMpay’s white-label option are Staples, Sage Payment Solutions, and Payline Data (a 5-star company by our latest assessment). So this isn’t necessarily just an option for small, obscure companies; it’s just a convenient solution to a challenging problem for processors of all sizes.

Is ROAMpay a Solid mPOS App?

ROAMpay isn’t Square. And by that, I mean it’s not nearly as feature rich. Square is more of a small business eco-system these days. ROAMpay is definitely just an mPOS app. But still, you do get a pretty solid set of features — everything I would expect to see and a little bit more. Most notably, you get support for EMV, NFC, and magstripe transactions. That’s not surprising, given that Ingenico makes the hardware you need. However, considering there are mPOS apps out there that STILL don’t support EMV or NFC, it merits mentioning. It appears that Ingenico makes several readers that are compatible with the ROAMpay app, including the RP350x you see here:

Other features include:

• Custom sales tax
• Custom tip settings
• Discounts by $ or % 
• Email and SMS receipts
• Item library with photos, SKUs, and more
• Customer notes and data 
• Full and partial refunds
• Cash recording

The app also has multi-user capabilities with permissions settings, PIN-based user authentication, and even offline capabilities. Plus, the app is designed for native tablet use — which will yield a much better experience than just using the same app design for smartphones and tablets.

Also, in addition to the app itself, Ingenico will set you up with the ROAMpay merchant portal — an online dashboard where merchants can check their sales reports, update customer data, and more.

Final Thoughts

While you’ll see a consistent user experience across each app, that DOESN’T mean you should expect a consistent payments experience. Contract terms and rates will vary depending on who your processor is, and not all mPOS and merchant account providers are created equal. As always, we encourage you to do your research and look for a reputable processor with a month-to-month agreement and low pricing, as well as reliable customer service.

If you are interested in a ROAMpay white label app, we do recommend Payline Mobile, which is Payline Data’s standalone mPOS. You get interchange-plus pricing, and the only requirement is that you generate $25 in payment fees per month — about $1,000 in card transactions, though exact requirements will depend on several factors.

Have questions about ROAMpay? Wondering what the best mPOS solution is for you? Leave us a comment! We’d love to hear from you.